Woz Blog: Raptors still have much to prove against quality opponents

Sure, Oklahoma City has been one of the best teams in the NBA over the past few weeks, beating all comers and playing extremely well behind Russell Westbrook, but … the Raptors have to do a better job meeting the intensity of the league’s elite squads. Otherwise, it will be the same old story and even 55 victories won’t mean much.

Toronto has a gaudy .697 winning percentage (even after consecutive defeats this week), but is just 7-9 so far against teams that are either .500 or above (and 0-2 overall in three-point games). That isn’t nearly good enough. The new-look offence, strong defence and career season (again) from DeMar DeRozan are all positives, but if none of it translates to the best of the best, what is going to happen in the playoffs? Toronto has had a cream puff schedule lately. That’s going to change and there will be some stern tests. It will be interesting to see how they meet those challenges. The 11-6 record against the West (the most wins by an Eastern Conference team against the West) is a feather in Toronto’s cap.

Bizarrely, Washington is just 9-10 against teams below .500, but an impressive 10-6 against opponents .500 or above. That’s despite missing John Wall for much of the year and having a less than full strength Wall in others (plus a horrible bench, vs. Toronto’s excellent group of reserves).

Toronto might be five up on the Wizards now, but heading into the season I didn’t think much would separate them and it will be interesting to watch how it plays out. Expect Boston to fall back into that mix too, with Cleveland pulling away once Isaiah Thomas returns to take some pressure off of LeBron James.

Other interesting standings quirks:

Miami has feasted on the weak (13-2) but gone just 5-14 against good opponents; San Antonio is just 8-8 against .500 or above teams; Dallas has gone 8-16 against good opponents, just 3-9 against the rest.

Thoughts on the game:

Westbrook absolutely should have been given the lone technical for that nonsense with Jonas Valanciunas. He acted like a baby, or, as I tweeted, treated Valanciunas the way he usually treats the media. With disdain and anger. He escalated the whole thing. Either throw him out or give the Raptors the advantage by not giving Valanciunas the technical.

It was a rough one for Valanciunas: The quicker Steven Adams gave him the business.

Toronto has gone from the best rebounding team in the NBA over a 10-game stretch to one of the worst over the past few games. Just dreadful work on the glass.

C.J. Miles led the team in scoring for the first time and matched his Raptors high with six three-pointers. They need to unleash him more often and always play him for 20 minutes a night. Sure, he’s not a great defender, but he does so much on the other end (whether hitting shots himself or spacing it out for his teammates) that he needs to play. It’s on Dwane Casey and his staff to make it work. Fred VanVleet and Norman Powell will have to get their minutes reduced significantly to make the rotation work properly when Delon Wright and Miles are healthy. You just can’t play everybody similar amounts. The all-stars need about 34-35 minutes a night, Serge Ibaka 30, Anunoby in the high 20’s, Miles needs at least 20, Pascal Siakam and Valanciunas should get about 20, Jakob Poeltl shouldn’t be far behind and Wright should be in for about 25, given all he does. VanVleet and Powell can fight over the rest, depending on who makes the most sense that night. Again, the Raptors have too many good players and not enough minutes to go around.

Andre Roberson can’t shoot at all (the Raptors even went to the Hack-A-Shaq in desperation on him) but he sure can defend and rebound. An invaluable piece for a team with as many offensive threats as the Thunder.

Hard to believe that was the first time both Westbrook and Paul George both scored 20 for Oklahoma City.

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